The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a Housing Notice on January 8 to make administrative changes and add flexibility to the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP), which makes grant and loan funding available for HUD-assisted Multifamily Housing providers to rehabilitate properties for climate resilience and energy/water efficiency.
LeadingAge worked with HUD to make funding available and LeadingAge housing provider members have been among the award recipients so far.
Flexibility in GRRP Leveraging
Titled Housing Notice 2024-01: Green and Resilient Retrofit Program for Multifamily Housing (GRRP) – Supplemental Notice A, adds flexibility in both grant and loan funds that enhance owners’ and develops’ ability to leverage GRRP. The Notice applies to current owners who have received a GRRP award as well as to property owners that will be selected in upcoming application periods.
According to HUD, the Notice makes the following changes to the GRRP:
- Disbursement of GRRP FundsThese changes will make it easier for developers to finance the construction stage by allowing more of the GRRP funds to be available during construction. Specifically, it amends the disbursement requirements for the Elements, Leading Age, and Comprehensive awards by revising the process for submitting draw requests, increasing the maximum amount of award funds that may be disbursed during the construction period, clarifying a condition for when remaining funds may be disbursed, and removing the requirement for an Escrow Deposit Agreement for the disbursement of Comprehensive Award funds.
- Surplus Cash Loan TermsThese changes update the terms for Surplus Cash Loans by clarifying when payments begin, allowing for the payment of deferred developer fees prior to calculating the Surplus Cash for the first ten years of payments, and extending the term of any Surplus Cash Loan from 15 years to up to 30 years.
- Renewable Energy CreditsProvides specific guidance around how long owners need to purchase renewable energy credits if they are relying on them in order to achieve a Leading Edge Qualifying Certification. Owners must continue to purchase credits for the greater of the duration required by the Certification or three years.
- Davis-Bacon Wages and Project Labor AgreementsProvide participants greater predictability on labor costs by specifying when Davis-Bacon wage rates lock in. It also provides new guidance for owners that elect to enter into project labor agreement (PLA) with unions.
- Administrative AdjustmentsThe notice provides additional revisions that clarify discrepancies in the original Notice and simplify administration by participants and HUD.
An updated, redline GRRP Housing Notice 2023-05 as amended by the Supplemental Notice 2024-01 is available here.
Upcoming Application Periods
LeadingAge encourages our membership to apply for the GRRP’s rehabilitation funds, and to leverage the accompanying energy benchmarking support now available from HUD.
HUD recently extended the deadline to accept applications for the three remaining GRRP cohorts.
HUD’s GRRP team continues to host weekly office hours on Wednesdays from 3:00-3:30 p.m. ET (no registration necessary): https://zoom.us/j/99199273258.
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